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ENNIS AREA NETWORK MEETING. 27TH SEPT 2007. CLARE YOUTH SERVICE Present: Karl Quinn (CABES); Teresa Larkin (CYS); Seamus Bane (Clare VEC Youth Officer); Aobhan Haverty (CEF); Breda O Driscoll (CLLN); Ann Knox (CLLN); Martina Crowley Hayes(CLLN); Paul O Shea (Respond); Mike Ryan (BTEI); Suzanne Kyle (Ennis CDP); Emer Matthews (Youthreach Progression). 1. Introduction. As new chairperson Karl opened the meeting and invited everyone to introduce themselves. The minutes of the previous meeting were adopted. 2. Updates. Mike Ryan (BTEI) reported that work was well advanced on starting the range of BTEI courses in various venues around the county. He reported on a change to the criteria that now allows those who have not achieved Leaving Certificate to take up a BTEI course, without charge, even if working. A significant increase in expressed interest for individual courses has not fully transferred to learners attending initial classes, thus causing administrative difficulties. Mike also reported on a new pre-leaving course that is aimed at students that may wish to complete the Leaving Certificate. It gives them an opportunity to assess the level of work and effort required and to decide if they wish to seek the full cert. Three FETAC certified modules will be offered that will provide either a solid base for further study or an end in itself depending on the student wishes. Mike also commended Conor Flynn on his support and encouragement of students to take up the course. Martina Crowley Hayes (CLLN) reported that Equality Awareness training was still available from CLLN. A programme had been delivered the previous week to stall of the BTEI and CABES English Language tutors to very positive response. She will be meeting with CYS staff to discuss the delivery of training all tutor staff. Training on the Active Citizenship programme is also available. The study on the experience of setting up a Learner Forum will be wit the printers next and is hoped to be available shortly. Ann Knox(CLLN) provided an update from FETAC on Assessment. The main points are: The new assessment policy and consequent changes will not now come into effect until July 2008. Hence the first time it will impact on most current centres will be November 2008 although we hope to have a new assessment period in July 2008 to cater for many of our new providers. There will be a panel of external authenticators recruited by FETAC to carry out the new function. Their names, contact details and subject matter expertise will be posted on the web. Providers will be responsible for contacting these externs to carry out authentication visits. Responsibility for paying authenticators will be with the provider. Discussions are ongoing with the major provider bodies in this regard. Procedures for internal verification can be implemented by providers at any time but will be expected to be in place by July 2008. This may include peer review and or cross moderation or whatever procedures have been chosen by the provider to ensure consistency of its assessment procedures and outcomes. The FE support service have published guidelines on peer review on their website www.sfe.ie. They have also put together a CD ROM on cross moderation which they will make available to centres. Please note that cross moderation is not a specific requirement but is one form of internal verification appropriate to some large centres. The FETAC guidelines on assessment are available at http://www.fetac.ie/assessment/default.htm A FETAC training seminar will be held on October 12th in the Clare Education Centre, Ennis. The first part of the day will be for Co-Ordinators with the second part, covering Self-Evaluation of programmes and services, open to all including tutors. Ann requested that as many as possible attend the seminar as CLLN has succeeded in getting Ennis established as a venue for the delivery of training by the SFE. Ann also reported on the lobbying action that has arisen as a result of the decision by the DES to permit only DES funded centres and personnel to attend SFE-run training. This decision will have a negative impact on many smaller organizations that are the first point of contact for the most disadvantaged learners. In addition the decision diminishes the potential for building positive relationships and partnership working between the statutory and voluntary sectors. A copy of the lobbying letters can be seen as documents attached to the FETAC day notice in Upcoming Events on the CLLN website. Ann also reported on an issue that arises where those who, while they have a Leaving Cert, are in low pay employment or work in the home are not eligible to access BTEI free of charge. This is a significant barrier to many and some work has been done on lobbying for changes in the system. Mike Ryan supported this and reported that the issue has been raised with the DES. Emer Matthews (Youthreach Progression) reported that 25 students had commenced their course in September and were settling in to the work. The second year students were continuing with their Level 5 Progression course. She noted that a high proportion of the new students are from the Ennis area. Aobhan Haverty (CEF) reported that tutor hours are available through the Community Education programme for groups that wish to run short-term locally based courses. Tutors must be registered in order for groups to avail of the opportunity of this programme. Aobhan invited anyone who might know of a group that would be interested or who had an idea of a course that might be run to contact her. She informed the meeting that the Community Strand of the BTEI will be advertised shortly. Aobhan also informed the group of the new Community Services Programme, funded by Pobal and administered locally by RRD. This has three strands to the programme this year with closing dates very soon. Further information can be had from RRD on the areas, which are: Community services and enterprises supporting and/or employing travellers Community media, primarily Community Radio Staffing or supervision and maintenance of community halls or centres Paul O Shea (Respond) reported that he had commenced working with residents of the Bridge View estate in Ennis. He is providing support and guidance to the group around estate management and community skills. He is working with Aobhan on the possibility of delivering a citizenship programme with the group. Paul also reported that Respond facilities at Stone Court and Orchard Grove may be available to groups at particular times. Ann Knox will contact Paul to make information on this available through the network. Teresa Larkin (Clare Youth Service) reported on the start of a new academic year in the Youth Service. The LCA course has an intake of 15 students this year. She also noted a significant increase in students from Eastern Europe an well as younger Irish students. The Youth Service will host a music/drama performance event in Glor on October 10th to which all are invited. The event attempts to link the many aspects of work and learning that the students are involved in. She emphasised the importance of keeping the human dimension of learning to the fore as a counter to the increasing emphasis on certification coming from many quarters. Seamus Bane (VEC Youth Officer) reported that work continues on the roll-out of the Youth Work Act and plan. While developments had been relatively slow to date it is expected that activity will increase now that all VECs have their staff in place. He also reported that the VEC Youth Club grants had been advertised this week and applications will follow. Karl Quinn (CABES English Language Programme) reported on the restart of the English language classes across the county. East Europeans are the primary users of the service. He also reported that the Adult Education Service will host a conference on the 30th November on the theme of “Non Formal Education and the Benefits of Learning”. Suzanne Kyle (Ennis CDP) described the work of the Parent Support Programme for Traveller Parents. This project, based in the CDP, aims to give parents the opportunity to develop their skills in supporting their children’s education. In addition to supporting children the programme creates an environment for parents in which they identify their own needs and participate in developing responses. The programme, which works in co-operation with the Clare Family Learning Project and Cloughleigh School, has played a significant role in supporting Traveller children to remain in education at both primary and secondary level. A transition programme for the parents of children moving on to second level school proved very successful over the summer. In spite of the acknowledged success of the programme by parents, children and schools, it faces a very uncertain future. Funding is due to run-out in February and there is no promise of continuation. Building one-to-one relationships has been shown to be crucial for this type of work and the uncertainty makes for a very difficult working situation where significant time and energy is devoted to sourcing funding to maintain the programme. Acknowledging the work of the programme the meeting discussed ways in which support might be extended. Aobhan will meet with Suzanne to consider the submission of an application to the Community Services Programme. She also pointed out that a percentage of the allocation that groups receive for the Community Strand of the BTEI can be allocated to administration costs and this might be an avenue worth considering. Aobhan will forward information to Suzanne. The DSFA might also be approached as a source of support. The experience of the programme highlights the key role of the oneto-one contact and support in encouraging the most disadvantaged to remain within and return to education and learning. 3. County Wide Plan Ann Knox distributed a summary of those actions from the Ennis Area of the county-wide plan that needed attention. This was followed by a discussion on those actions where the following was decided: Actions 1.2 and 4.1 constitute the ongoing work of the network. Actions 2.4 and 5.1 will be addressed at the next meeting in light of the Adult Education conference in November. Re item 2.2 the meeting decided to revisit this action at a later date. 4. Partnership Toolkit. The completed report of the Partnership training was distributed by Aobhan. Congratulations were extended on the completion of a very significant element of the work of the CLLN project and thanks were expressed to all who contributed. 5. Next Meeting The next meeting of the Ennis Area Network will be held on Wednesday 12th Dec 2007 at 11.30am. This will be followed by lunch (venue to be decided). The agenda as agreed will be: 1. Updates 2. CLLN Report and Evaluation 3. AOB The meeting then ended.